Sleeping Sweetheart
by ellumina
Summary: She was the best part of his past, but their future together was the most beautiful thing about her. CloudxTifa


A/N: Happy Valentine's Day.**  
**

**Sleeping Sweetheart**

_How can you sleep like that… _

He couldn't stop thinking as the spell of sleep eluded him.

_After what you just told me?_

Awake in the bed that he shared with his sleeping sweetheart, Cloud watched the ceiling, a mixture of curiosity, shock and bewilderment painting dazed flickers in his eyes. There was absolutely no recognition in there, no sign of understanding. Just dazed disbelief. It was almost like his spirit was somewhere outside his body, watching a familiar man with blonde hair and shiny blue eyes study the ceiling.

He felt light somehow, floating, as though his body was empty save for the heart that thudded loud and ceaseless in his ears. The rhythm echoed, growing by the second and with it the soft sound of her voice as she spoke words that he hadn't known would keep him up all tonight.

He laced quivering fingers together, still trying to make sense of the words Tifa spoke earlier to him, and tucked them behind his head, lying stiffly against the bed they shared. Only his eyes turned to regard the slumbering beauty curled up next to him and for a moment, his brows drew together as his eyes traced over her, seeing things that were so foreign, they left a lump in his throat.

In her sleep, Tifa was scared and tense.

And she wasn't in his arms.

He sat up with the realization, concerned eyes studying her and wondered why he hadn't taken notice of all those little signs that spoke volumes of what was going on in her mind after she'd blurted shocking words out to him a few hours ago and earned silence in response.

_Tifa…_

And despite it all, as the sound of her name echoed in his mind, as his eyes trailed from her face down her body, where he took notice that she was hadn't changed before going to bed, he felt a brutal sense of protectiveness consume him, familiar and a thousand times more intense than he'd ever felt before.

_My Tifa…_

The warmth inside him spread like a golden wave, reaching over to delight his heart with the beautiful future they'd promised to build together. It was happening now, that beautiful future that meant so much more to him than anything else. Even as she slept, confused and tensed and desperately wishing for the warmth of his body against hers, she was still being and becoming the best thing about the life he'd battled viciously with death for.

He sighed, a soft, quiet sound and turned on his side, pressing his elbow onto the pillow and propping his head up against his hand. The tips of his fingers grazed her smooth skin tenderly as he brushed back her hair, unwilling to let the soft silky mass of it conceal her face from him.

And he studied everything he already knew about her, his gaze lingering lovingly on the delicate features of his face, and he allowed the smile to tease the corners of her lips as he indulged in just watching her.

She was breathtaking.

But for the first time since their marriage months ago, she didn't look like the radiant bride he would always see her as.

Her face was pale with weariness in the moonlight, exhaustion painting faint shadows beneath her eyes. Soft lines of worry creased her foreheads and the breaths that escaped from between those lips he loved kissing so much, were a tad too fast. She looked tired, drained and more exhausted than she'd ever been before.

And she looked a thousand times more beautiful with his ring on her finger and his child in her womb.

_Don't stay up too long,_ she'd said a few hours ago, her voice low and soft-spoken.

And he hadn't noticed how her eyes dipped down to her stomach, or how her hand lifted to rest on it, or how her lips broke into an enchanting smile filled with love and care and uncontrolled delight.

_We'll wait for you._

And he'd understood.

Eyes softening and smile deepening, Cloud took a deep breath, trying to calm his erratic heart, beating with growing hope as the thought of his child growing inside her spun around in his mind again and again, gaining speed an clarity until all the stunned, disbelief he'd been entertaining since the news broke out, faded into supreme, boundless bliss that seemed to take him all the way to heaven.

Trembling with the joy coursing through him, he rubbed a warm hand down her arm then gently rested his palm against her bare stomach, hesitating at the thought that just beneath his quivering fingers was the life they'd created together.

It was like magic knowing that a part of him was growing inside her, that a future with him was happening inside her and that the whole world and everything else seemed so small compared to what he was having now.

And part of what he was having now was an intense attack of delight, tainted only with the stunned disbelief that he still couldn't quite overcome, rising in the wake of a solid reality amidst the chaotic lies that had been marring his life for years.

Tifa was carrying his child.

His eyes watered at the thought and he suppressed a grin, leaning in towards her, making no attempt to push back the hair that slid down to cover his tear-glazed eyes. He couldn't have done it if he wanted to. The joy pulsating through his body left him trembling with delight.

And the reason for that joy lay in the beautiful person curled up by his side.

"I lied," he murmured quietly before his lips grazed hers with the softest of kisses, lingering for a moment as he tried to contain the happiness spreading inside him and extending beyond the limits of his body. "I don't love you more than love itself."

When he lifted his face, the tears that had been forming in his eyes slid free and the grin he'd been trying to hold in broke out and he curved trembling arms around his stunning wife and pressed his moist cheek to hers, never wanting to let go.

In his arms she moved, turning as he turned her, murmuring his name and hiding her face into the crook of his neck, pressing her hand to his heartbeat and smiling as his warm scent wrapped around her.

"I love you so much more than that," Cloud breathed softly, shifting so he could lie back down and wrap her protectively in his arms and bring her closer to his heart still resting a hand gently upon her smooth stomach. He closed his eyes understanding the bond that Tifa was creating when she laced her fingers through his to keep their little family joined together.

And he smiled, murmuring fading words as the spell of sleep washed quietly over him and the dreams of the future started.

"Both of you."

* * *

A/N: Probably not my best work but let me know what you think anyway. 


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